Apparatus for dispensing towelling



April 14, 1970' QJ. HowLETT 3,506,320

APPARATUS FOR D I S PENS ING TOWELLING Filed July 18, 1968 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Ml/twroe Era/APB Ja/f/Y 69:01.5

April 14, 1970 E. .i. HOWLETT 3,506,320

APPARATUS FOR DISPENSING TOWELLING Filed July 18, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2I I 6 ii I I a i I H a i I I 4 4 r 1 4- .J I A I 5 I i i I 15 //YV/Y ToeEpwmb Ja/W $1045 United States Patent O 3,506,320 APPARATUS FORDISPENSING TOWELLING Edward .Iohn Hewlett, 16 Hillway, Highgate, LondonN 6, England Filed July 18, 1968, Ser. No. 745,719 Int. Cl. B65h 19/00US. Cl. 312--38 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Cabinet for dispensingtowelling from a storage roll as a loop, which automatically returns thesoiled towelling to the cabinet, when pulled by a user, via an assemblyof parallel rollers, within the cabinet including a delivery roller, atake-up roller, and a spring-driven retraction roller, the latter beingenergised as and when the delivery roller is rotated, and held againstrotation by ratchet-andpawl which is releasable as and when thetowelling loop is pulled.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION This invention relates to apparatus of thecabinet kind for dispensing towelling from a continuous rolled web, saidapparatus including an assembly of parallel rollers and mechanism forenabling the web to be delivered outside the cabinet, the user pullingon the web; one of the rollers is a delivery roller and usually thearrangement is such that this delivery roller is automatically lockedafter a predetermined length has been pulled and then automaticallyreleased after tension on the web has been relaxed, but this locking andreleasing is not necessarily adopted by the present invention. In such acase (i.e. when locking and releasing), the delivery roller constitutesa measuring roller, because the amount of rotation permitted prior tolocking determines the set length of clean towelling issued for eachpull on the towel. Apparatus of this kind provides that each user willobtain a clean length of the web through a slot in the cabinet. Theassembly of rollers includes a take-up roller around which the soiledportion of towelling is wound after each operation, the take-up rollerbeing frictionally driven by reason of the roll of soiled web resting ona rough-surfaced take-up drive roller which in turn is driven by meanssuch as chain-and-sprocket from the delivery roller. The foregoingapparatus is referred to herein as the kind described.

Usually the towel hangs underneath the cabinet, before and after use, ina loop including the previously used and soiled portion which isultimately withdrawn into the cabinet, but only when a new clean portion(or portions) has been pulled out by the user; the loop is always leftexposed. It has been proposed to retract the towel into the cabinetautomatically after each use leaving merely a substantially taut lengthunderneath and across the bottom of the cabinet so as to obviate thedisadvantages of such a continuously exposed loop including a solidportion.

The present invention has for its object to provide an improvedconstruction for producing automatic retraction of the towel.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the said invention apparatus ofthe kind described for dispensing towelling, includes means forautomatically retracting the towel into the cabinet, said meanscomprising a towel-retraction roller for winding the used towel portionback into the cabinet, a power-operated driving mechanism to rotate saidtowel-retraction roller, means operated by the usual delivery roller toenergise said power-operated mechanism simultaneously with the rotationof the delivery roller when clean towel is being pulled out of thecabinet by a user, in combination with locking means to hold the saidretraction roller against rotation by the said power-operated mechanismwhen withdrawal tension is applied to the towel, and means actuated whentension on the towel is released to free said locking means.

The retracted soiled towel is delivered into a soiled towel compartmentwhere it accumulates until the next operation of the delivery roller,whereupon the take-up drive roller for winding the soiled towel web ontothe take-up roller performs its function on the previously accumulatedsoiled towel.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In order that the said invention maybe readily understood the accompanying drawings are referred to in thefollowing description of an embodiment of the said invention by way ofexample, and in said drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a vertical section, more or less diagrammatic, of thepresent invention;

FIGURE 2 is a plan thereof representing a section taken on the line IIIIof FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 3 is a sectional elevation to aid in the description of thespring-operated driving mechanism to rotate said towel-retractionroller.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Like reference numerals indicatethe same or corresponding parts throughout the several figures.

Referring to the drawings, an outer cabinet 1 is provided at the frontwith an upper door 2 and a lower door 3, the former being hinged at 4 tothe top of the casing and the latter door 3 hinged at 5 to the bottom ofthe casing so that when these are opened the various rollers andmechanism (hereinafter described) are accessible from the front of thecabinet. In this embodiment a chassis 6 is included. In this chassisthere is pivoted a delivery roller 7 which normally rotates clockwiseand is held against reverse rotation by the pawl 8. This delivery roller7 has a presser or nip roller 9 (omitted for clarity in FIG- URE 2) overwhich the issuing towel 10 (FIGURE 1) passes so that when pulled fromoutside the cabinet, it moves the said nip roller 9 in acounterclockwise direction turning the delivery roller 7 clockwise withthe towel 10 pulling off from a roll of clean towelling housed in thebase of the cabinet 1, and indicated by the dot-and-dash circle alsodesignated 10, so that it can freely unroll in the trough formed thereinby the inner trough member 11 and the front door 3 of the cabinet. Thetrough member 11 is pivoted to the chassis at 11a so as to be movedforward clear of the rear mechanism to facilitate threading the toweltherethrough when inserting a new roll. There is a take-up drive roller12 driven by a chain 13. The said delivery roller 7 also drives throughthe chain 13 a power-operated driving mechanism for the retractionroller unit designated generally by the numeral 14, the chain 13 thusextending around the three rollers 7, 12 and the driving unit 14 for theretraction roller 15 (which is included in the unit 14), 16 (FIGURE 1)representing a jockey pinion.

It will be apparent that when the towel 10 is pulled from outside thecabinet 1, the delivery roller 7 will be rotated and will drive thetake-up drive roller 12 and also the, power-operated driving'mechanismfor energising the retraction roller 15. The power-operated driving unitis preferably spring-energised but could be otherwise powered, e.g. by asuspended weight from a winding drum. A spring-energised drivingmechanism (see particularly FIG- URE 3 now to be described) ispreferred.

With reference to FIGURE 3, it will be seen that the towel retractionroller 15 is hollow and preferably covered by a strip of carding wirerepresented by the helical winding thereon (FIGURE 2). The retractionroller is mounted rotatably on a shaft 17 which has fast therewith, atone end, a sprocket 18 to receive the drive via chain 13 from thedelivery roller 7 on to the retraction roller unit 14. As the shaft 17is rotated it energises a helical spring 19 inside the hollow roller 15,said spring being fixed at one end to the shaft 17 and at the other endto the retraction roller 15. The roller is held against rotation by theratchet wheel 20 held by a pawl 21 (FIG- URE 1). By this means everytime the delivery roller 7 is rotated by a pull on the towel itenergises the retraction roller 15 ready for automatically pulling inthe used towel, when the tension on the towel during the deliveryoperation ceases. During this period of tension on the towel the pawl 21is holding the retraction roller 15 against rotation.

The pawl 21 is on one end of a two-armed lever 22 which is joined to oneend of a link 23 extending from back to front of the cabinet, the otherend of the link 23 being supported to the chassis by a short suspensionlink 24 On the outside of the cabinet there is a bar 25 forming thebottom of a U-shape operating member, the sides 26 of which terminate inrespective flat cam plates 27 projecting into the sides of the cabinetand pivoted at 28. This plate 27 holds the link 23 against the action oftension spring 29 (FIGURE 1) which tends to pull the lever 22 into aposition releasing the pawl 21 so as to free the retraction roller 15 towind in the soiled towel. In FIGURE 1, the towel 10 is being withdrawn,which pulls out the U-shape operating member 25, 26 about its pivot 28so as to hold the pawl 21 in its locking position on the retractionroller 15. The issuing towel is passed over a fixed bar 30 so that, whenpulled, it lifts the U-shape member 25, 26 into the illustratedposition, from the normal position when out of use depicted in brokenlines. On releasing the tension on the towel, the operating member 25,26 drops by gravity (aided by a light spring, if desired) whereupon thecam plate 27 ceases to abut the end of the link 23, enabling the spring29 to exercise its force on the lever 22, and release the pawl 21 fromthe retraction roller 15. The soiled towel is immediately drawn into thecabinet and deposited in the compartment 31; a succeeding operation ofwithdrawal will re-energise the spring 19 (FIGURE 3) and simultaneouslycause the soiled towel accumulated in the compartment 31 to be wound onto the soiled towel take-up roller 32 driven frictionally by driveroller 12.

It is desirable to have a roller 33 lightly pressing on the retractionroller 15. In the example such roller 33 is carried between therespective ends of a pair of links 34 pivotally carried at 35 by theupper door 2. By linking these links 34 to the chassis as at 36, thelight-weight roller 33 is raised clear of the retraction roller 15 whenthe upper door 2 is opened, and thus the presser roller 33 is movedclear to facilitate threading the towel when inserting a new roll oftowel.

A second pawl 37 locks the ratchet wheel 20 when the door 3 is opened,being operated by the spring-urged sliding bar 38, and converselyreleased when the door is shut. The inner trough member 11 can be pulledforward by the bar 39 to give access to the driving unit 14 forthreading a new towel, or for other purposes.

I claim:

1. Apparatus of the kind described for dispensing towelling, includingmeans for producing automatically the retraction of the towel into thecabinet, said means comprising a towel-retraction roller for winding theused towel portion back into the cabinet, a power-operated drivingmechanism to rotate said towel-retraction roller,

means operated by the usual delivery roller to energise saidpower-operated mechanism simultaneously with the rotation of thedelivery roller when clean towel is being pulled out of the cabinet by auser, in combination with locking means to hold the said retractionroller against rotation by the said power-operated mechanism whenwithdrawal tension is applied to the towel, and means actuated whentension on the towel is released to free said locking means.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which the delivery roller has asprocket around which passes an endless chain driving sprockets on thetake-up drive roller and the power-operated mechanism of thetowel-retraction roller.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 characterised in that thepower-operated mechanism is spring-energised.

4. Apparatus of the kind described for dispensing towelling, includingmeans for producing automatically the retraction of the towel into thecabinet, said means comprising a towel-retraction roller for winding theused towel portion back into the cabinet, a power-operated drivingmechanism to rotate said towel-retraction roller, means operated by theusual delivery roller to energise said power-operated mechanismsimultaneously with the rotation of the delivery roller when clean towelis being pulled out the cabinet by a user, in combination with lockingmeans to hold the said retraction roller against rotation by the saidpower-operated mechanism when withdrawal tension is applied to thetowel, and means actuated when tension on the towel is released to freesaid locking means, said delivery roll being provided with a sprocketaround which passes an endless chain driving sprockets on the take-updrive roller and the power-operated mechanism of the towel-retractionroller, said power-operated mechanism being spring-energised and theretraction roller being hollow and mounted rotatably on a shaft whichhas fast therewith, at one end, a sprocket to receive the chain drivefrom the delivery roller, said hollow roller being held against rotationon the shaft by a ratchet wheel fast on the roller, said shaft beingconnected to one end of a helical spring within the hollow roller, thesaid spring being connected by its other end to the roller, said ratchetwheel being held by a pawl constituting the locking means to hold theroller against rotation by the spring when withdrawal tension is appliedto the towel, said pawl being released to free the locking means throughlinkage actuated when withdrawal tension is released.

5. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which the locking means for holdingthe retraction roller against rotation by the power operated mechanismcomprises a ratchet wheel fast with the retraction roller, and a pawlengaging the said ratchet wheel, said pawl being carried on one end of atwo-armed lever, the other end of which is pivoted to a link operablyassociated with a member which is movable as and when tension on thetowel is applied or relaxed, which, respectively, causes said pawl toengage or disengage the ratchet wheel.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,853,705 4/1932 Steiner 3l2381,946,997 2/1934 Addler 3 l238 2,265,875 12/1941 Simpson 3 l2382,899,251 8/1959 Birr 31238 3,214,226 10/1965 Bahnsen 31238 3,323,8486/1967 Bahnsen 3 1238 2,909,402 10/1959 Howlett 3 l238 3,265,454 8/1966Scanland 3 l2-38 NILE C. BYERS, 111., Primary Examiner

